Australian Crawl

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"Australian crawl" redirects here. For the swimming style, see Front crawl.

Australian Crawl was an Australian rock band formed by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano) and Simon Binks (lead guitar) in 1978 and joined by Guy McDonough (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Bill McDonough (drums, percussion), Paul Williams (bass guitar), and Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar). . The band was named after the Australian slang term for freestyle swimming. The band's music was a defining feature of Australian surf culture during the 1980s.

Their 1980 debut album The Boys Light Up had a number of hit singles including the title track; "Indisposed"; and "Beautiful People". The Boys Light Up appeared on the Aussie charts for 104 weeks. In 1981 the band released their second album, Sirocco. This album contained the hits "Lakeside", "Things Don't Seem" and "Errol", a song written about the Australian actor Errol Flynn. It was produced by Peter Dawkins in Sydney.

In 1982 they released the Sons of Beaches album. The album was recorded in Hawaii with producer Mike Chapman. The album featured the hit "Shutdown" and it became their third album in a row to reach the top five in the Australian charts.

Soon afterwards Bill McDonough left the band. The remaining members then recorded the EP Semantics. The EP contained what would become possibly their best-known song, "Reckless".

The first of two deaths in the group came in 1984 when Guy McDonough died in Melbourne of viral pneumonia secondary to endocarditis due to intravenous amphetamine use.

The band recorded their final studio album, Between A Rock And A Hard Place, in 1985.

Tensions within the band caused them to disband in 1986. Performing a final concert on 27 January 1986, the concert was recorded and released under the title The Final Wave.

In seven years, Australian Crawl sold over a million records in Australia. After the group disbanded, Reyne went on to pursue a successful solo career. Robinson moved into a career in television (with Network Ten's Page One) and documentaries; in the 1990s he became the manager for the Reyne brothers, James and David. (David had been the drummer in Reyne and Binks' first band, Spiff Roach.)

After a three-year battle with lymphoma, Robinson died on 13 October 1996. The band was inducted into the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1996, just before Robinson's death.

In 2002 EMI released a two-CD Greatest Hits package called Australian Crawl: James Reyne, The Definitive Collection, which contained songs from the band and from James Reyne's solo career.

Prior to the formation of the band in 1978 (circa.1976) Reyne and Binks played in a band with guitarist Mark Hudson who is credited as co-writer of their first hit song "Beautiful People".

Studio albums

The Boys Light Up (1980)
Sirocco (1981)
Sons of Beaches (1982)
Between A Rock And A Hard Place (1985)

Live albums

Phalanx (1983)
The Final Wave (1986)

External link

[Official James Reyne website]

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